Procrastinating, Kingdom Saving, and all other forms of Geekdom

Going On

Anyone that has been coming to this here blog for a while has probably noticed that, on the sidebar, there’s a column that says “Currently Writing”. Ever since that has been up there, there’s been an entry that says “Twin Earths”. Twin Earths is a story that I have been writing on and off for close to a decade. A few months ago, I got back into it and swore that I would finish it this time, no matter what.

Now, I’m thinking about breaking that promise to myself. I’m debating on whether I should write in it at all anymore.

Honestly, the only reason I haven’t given up on it yet is the amount of time that I have put into it. This last time I began writing is the third different time that I have started over in it. I have pages of notes about characters and plot points that I wanted to cover. It just seems like such a waste to give up on all of that.

However, this story was a big undertaking. I had so much planned out that I would have had to make it a duology, which I used to think was fitting considering that it’s called Twin Earths. It’s just too much to live up to now.

I’m halfway through the first book and I’m having trouble coming up with a reason to keep going. I’ve given up on a number of different projects since I’ve began writing. Most of the time, it’s because I’ve lost passion for the project: the story doesn’t excite me as much as it first did, I don’t like the characters as much as when I started, or a number of other reasons. This time, though, that’s not the case.

I still like the characters. I have the will to continue on. I have faith in the story.

I just don’t have faith that I’m the right one to tell it.

This story is epic, talking place on a global scale. That means that I would have to write about places and cultures that I don’t know about. There is a lot of fighting in it, which would mean that I would need to know a lot about modern police and military tactics. I don’t. Sure, I could probably look a lot of that stuff up, but I just don’t have the time or energy to do that.

That just leaves me with the question: Should I continue on, knowing that the story will never be as good as I want it to be just so I can finish it, or should I take everything I’ve done and shove it in the back of a closet in hopes that one day I’ll have the time to write it well enough to do the story justice?